Scriptural Foundation:
Ecclesiastes 3:11 New Living Translation (NLT)
Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
Matthew 19:14 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)
He said, Leave the children alone! Allow the little ones to come to Me, and do not forbid or restrain or hinder them, for of such [as these] is the kingdom of heaven composed.
Isaiah 55:8-9 Amplified Bible Classic Edition (AMPC)
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Reflection:
My youngest daughter comes running up to me. Her face totally radiant as she proudly shows me her hand drawn picture! It was quite colorful; however she totally disregarded any of the lines. I made much of her and then she ran off to show Daddy her master piece. It made me start thinking how as young children we are in encouraged to color within the lines. It makes the picture “prettier”; we have to make sure that we use the right colors to make the picture “look right”; and last but not least we have to hang it up next to our peers to see who did “the best job”. It sounds like a simple thing, but isn’t. Everything in life is pretty simple….that is of course before we start interacting with others.
The bottom line as children we start off with an imagination for the purposes of catching the Lord’s vision for our life as we grow older. That vision will go against the rationale of this life. In the perfect, God will be coloring outside the lines of life as you know it! It may look messy to others, but that is because they haven’t realized or caught the larger vision that the Lord has for your life. In that larger vision, all the colors are in place and that picture is a masterpiece that you will present to the Lord when you get to Heaven.
Now this doesn’t mean that children are to rule the world. We as parents must be the Godly example so that they accept the Lord soon rather than later in life. As adults, we must learn not to lean on our own understanding, but remember we are children in the eyes of the Lord. I heard a pastor say “the opposite of faith is certainty”. If you have your life figured out without God you are more than likely coloring within the lines. Seek the Lord and find out what true freedom feels like.
Seeking Revelation:
Grab your notebook:
- Look back over the course of life. What are dreams that you have abandoned?
- Why did you do that?
- Ask the Lord if you should pick up that dream again.